


Lunchtime

by puff22_2001



Category: Hey Arnold!
Genre: Adopted Sibling Relationship, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Aunt-Niece Relationship, Aunts & Uncles, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-10
Updated: 2020-06-10
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:33:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 918
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24637627
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/puff22_2001/pseuds/puff22_2001
Summary: Lila tries to bond with her adopted niece and learns something precious in return.
Relationships: Lila Sawyer & Original Character, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Kudos: 3





	Lunchtime

“Please eat, Hilda.” Lila cajoled the four-year-old. Her adopted niece crossed her arms and stuck out her tongue instead. Lila smiled, but inside she was ready to pull out her hair. Why had she agreed to babysit Olga’s stubborn daughter in the first place? Hilda just never seemed to warm up to her.

  
It was eerily reminiscent of the first interaction Lila had with Olga’s sister Helga when they were just children. Of course, Helga was jealous of the friendship Lila had with her future husband Arnold. When Lila finally figured out that she wasn’t even really attracted to boys the two had become friends. It helped that, during high school, Lila and Rhonda had begun dating which definitively cleared the way for Helga to Arnold.

  
Now, years later, their shared niece was sitting in her highchair and sulking. Lila hadn’t even been at Olga’s house for more than an hour and already she was exhausted and frazzled. Just trying to feed Hilda felt like an all-day chore. The little girl, a mini-clone of Helga, clamped her mouth shut as soon as her mother put her in her chair and kissed her goodbye. Olga and her husband only got Saturdays off, and that evening Olga had a meeting at the school. The couple was taking in an early lunch and then an afternoon matinee. Olga trusted Lila to do the same quality job she always did with Hilda. Lila was sure to hide her frustration and upset from her life-long friend. However, it hurt that Hilda always acted this way, despite knowing Lila her whole life.

  
Suddenly, Lila saw two big tears roll out of Hilda’s eyes. Hilda never cried. She sulked and screamed, but she didn’t cry. Placing the spoon gently on the chair, Lila picked up the unusually quiet girl and carried her into the living room. She didn’t say a word as she wrapped them up into a blanket. Hilda continued to cry silent tears, until it seemed she could hold it no longer.

  
“I miss Aunt Helga.” Helga and Arnold were on their honeymoon. They were due back in a week, but Hilda was too small to understand that. As far as she knew, Helga was gone forever.

  
“Honey, Aunt Helga will be back soon. You just have to be patient. Think of all the nice things she’ll bring you!”

  
“I want Aunt Helga.” Lila suppressed another sigh. Why was she always second to Helga where Hilda was concerned? No, she wasn’t the girl’s real aunt, but she thought herself almost as close. Having grown up so alone, it hurt Lila to see how attached Hilda was to the woman whose face she wore. Still, she couldn’t help what the child felt, and Lila wasn’t really her aunt. It was immature and petty to resent Helga for Hilda’s reasonable emotions. That didn’t mean that Lila didn’t still feel that resentment.

  
Lila was just about to say more meaningless platitudes when Hilda cut her off. “Can you read me a story?”

  
“Of course! What do you want me to read?”

  
“Cinderella.” Lila looked up from stroking Hilda’s hair, surprised. The only one who was allowed to read Hilda’s copy of Cinderella was Helga. Surely she didn’t mean that copy.

  
“Do you know where Mommy’s copy is?” Hilda untangled herself from the blanket and toddled over to the bookshelf at her own height. From it she drew the precious book, ratty with use. Still, it was fairly clean and not drawn in at all; Hilda had inherited her mother’ love of books, and kept her own as pristine as a six-year-old possible could.

  
“Read this one.” Lila didn’t have the courage to ask why she was being given the honor of reading the dog-eared book. Instead, she drew Hilda back into her lap, opened the book, and began reading with all her might. She gave each stepsister a unique, scary voice. Cinderella received the sweetest lilt Lila could muster. Even the rats found themselves brought alive by Lila’s desire to please her niece.

  
Sometime later, the story ended, the two sitting in silence as Hilda looked over the pages. Just as Lila was wondering if she should ask what was wrong, the blond child spoke up.

  
“I liked your voices. Aunt Helga doesn’t do voices. I’m going to tell her to do Cinderella’s voice just like you.” Hilda leaned back into the woman, snuggled into her arms, and promptly fell asleep. Lila dared not move, scared as she was to break the magic.

  
‘She liked my voices.’ It was a little thing, but Hilda had even fallen asleep in her arms—the arms Hilda usually didn’t even acknowledge when Lila came to visit and asked for a hug. Lila didn’t know what had changed between them. Maybe Hilda had seen the desperate sadness in her aunt’s eyes. Perhaps the child, sensitive to matters of the heart like most children were, had sensed how lonely Lila was still, even with the people who loved her. Maybe Hilda—herself lonely--had simply wanted to hear a story, and Lila was the only available narrator.

  
Whatever it was had changed something between the two. Lila felt it; a bond had begun to form. Although it was still small and fragile, perhaps someday it would be as strong as the one Hilda shared with Helga. In time, maybe Hilda would love her as much.

  
‘Maybe,’ Lila thought as the little girl slept peacefully in her arms, ‘Maybe she already does.'

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this fanfiction for a friend many years ago based on a piece of fanart that they had drawn. I only ever watched a few episodes of Hey Arnold! as a child, so I took my characterization from various wikis. From what I gathered, Lila is a girl trying her very best and I can approve of that. As well, as a somewhat-anxious aunt myself, I can sympathize with anyone trying to be a great role model for someone else's kids.


End file.
